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Ellis Act Eviction in Los Angeles: What Landlords Must Know

June 17, 2026 0 Comment Category: Estate Law

The Ellis Act is one of the most powerful tools available to Los Angeles landlords who want to exit the rental business with a property covered by the Rent Stabilization Ordinance. It is also one of the most procedurally demanding. Landlords who begin an Ellis Act withdrawal without fully understanding the notice timelines, relocation assistance obligations, re-rental restrictions, and LAHD administrative requirements are likely to encounter legal challenges that delay, complicate, or invalidate the entire withdrawal.

Niv V. Davidovich, Managing Partner of Davidovich Stone Law Group, is a Los Angeles landlord attorney who has represented property owners in Ellis Act withdrawals throughout Southern California. The firm has prosecuted more than 20,000 evictions since its 2017 founding, including evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic when most Los Angeles firms had suspended such filings. Davidovich explains that Ellis Act proceedings are among the most technically demanding matters in California landlord-tenant law because they require simultaneous compliance with state statute, local RSO requirements, and LAHD administrative procedures, and because the consequences of getting any one of those dimensions wrong can extend to years of re-rental restriction and civil liability.

“The Ellis Act is not a shortcut out of a difficult tenancy. It is a complete withdrawal from the rental market for a specific property, with obligations that continue for years after the tenants have vacated. The landlords who navigate it successfully are the ones who understood everything it required before they served the first notice.”

Niv V. Davidovich, Managing Partner, Davidovich Stone Law Group

What the Ellis Act Is and When It Applies

The statutory framework

The Ellis Act, codified at California Government Code sections 7060 through 7060.7, is a state law that preempts local rent control ordinances and gives landlords the right to withdraw residential rental units from the rental market by going out of the residential rental business. The key statutory requirement is that the withdrawal must be genuine, it must apply to all units in the building, and the landlord must actually intend to remove the property from the residential rental market rather than using the Ellis Act as a mechanism to remove specific tenants while continuing to rent other units in the same building.

In Los Angeles, the Ellis Act is administered through the Los Angeles Housing Department under the authority of the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance. The LAHD has established specific procedural requirements for Ellis Act withdrawals that layer on top of the state statutory framework. A Los Angeles Ellis Act eviction attorney needs to be fluent in both the state law requirements and the LAHD administrative process to navigate a withdrawal correctly.

Which properties are subject to Ellis Act requirements in Los Angeles

The Ellis Act applies to residential rental units covered by the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance, generally, rental units in buildings with two or more units built before October 1, 1978, subject to specific exemptions.

The Ellis Act Process in Los Angeles: Notice, Relocation, and LAHD Filing

The notice requirements and timelines

To initiate an Ellis Act eviction in Los Angeles, the landlord must file a written notice of intent to withdraw with the Los Angeles Housing Department and serve written notice of termination on every tenant in the building.

The notice must include specific information required by the LAHD, including the date the landlord intends to withdraw the units from the rental market, the amount of relocation assistance the tenant will receive, and the tenant’s rights under the Ellis Act and the RSO. Notices that omit required information or state incorrect relocation assistance amounts give tenants grounds to challenge the withdrawal proceeding. The LAHD filing must be completed simultaneously with or before service on the tenants, and the LAHD maintains specific filing requirements that must be satisfied for the withdrawal to proceed.

Relocation assistance obligations

Failure to pay the correct amount of relocation assistance at the correct time is a complete defense to an Ellis Act removal in Los Angeles. A landlord who calculates the relocation assistance incorrectly, pays it late, or pays it to the wrong tenant fails to satisfy the relocation assistance requirement and cannot proceed with the withdrawal until they correct the deficiency. For buildings with multiple units and tenants of varying tenancy lengths, landlords must confirm the relocation assistance calculation for each tenant individually before serving any notice.

The LAHD filing and administrative process

The Los Angeles Housing Department maintains a specific administrative process for Ellis Act withdrawals that requires the landlord to file a notice of intent to withdraw, pay a filing fee, and comply with periodic reporting requirements while the withdrawal is pending. The LAHD tracks the status of every Ellis Act withdrawal in the city, and the LAHD filing establishes the official date from which the tenant notice periods run. A withdrawal that was not properly filed with the LAHD, or that was filed incorrectly, does not establish the notice periods the landlord believes are running.

The LAHD Ellis Act filing process also establishes the re-rental restrictions that attach to the property after the withdrawal is complete. Once a property has been withdrawn from the rental market under the Ellis Act, re-renting the units within the restriction period triggers both civil liability to the displaced tenants and administrative enforcement by the LAHD. Understanding the duration and scope of those restrictions before beginning the process is essential for any property owner whose plans for the withdrawn property might include any form of residential rental use within the restriction window.

“The LAHD process is where most Ellis Act withdrawals that are handled without counsel encounter the most serious problems. The filing requirements are specific, the timelines interact with the notice periods in ways that are not always obvious, and a filing error that seems minor can extend the entire withdrawal timeline significantly. We review every step of the LAHD process before the first notice is served.”

-Niv V. Davidovich, Managing Partner, Davidovich Stone Law Group

Re-Rental Restrictions and the Right of First Refusal

How long will the restrictions last

After a Los Angeles Ellis Act withdrawal is complete and the tenants have vacated, the withdrawn units are subject to re-rental restrictions under both state law and the RSO. Under the Ellis Act, the owner may not rent the withdrawn units to any person for residential purposes for a period of five years from the date the last tenant vacates, without being subject to the right of first refusal obligations owed to the displaced tenants. If the owner offers the units for rent within ten years of the withdrawal, the displaced tenants have a right of first refusal to re-rent their former units at the rent they were paying at the time of the withdrawal.

The right of first refusal and its practical implications

The right of first refusal obligation is one of the most frequently misunderstood aspects of the Ellis Act, and it is one of the most consequential for property owners whose plans for the withdrawn property evolve after the withdrawal is complete. A landlord who withdraws a building under the Ellis Act and then decides to re-enter the rental market within ten years without properly notifying the displaced tenants and offering them their former units at the prior rent is exposed to civil liability that includes actual damages, punitive damages, and attorney’s fees.

Proper compliance with the right of first refusal requires locating each displaced tenant at their current address, providing written notice of the intent to re-rent in the form required by the RSO, allowing the tenant the required time to respond, and documenting the entire process with the LAHD. An Ellis Act attorney in Los Angeles who handles the withdrawal should also advise the property owner on the right of first refusal obligations at the time of the withdrawal, while the displaced tenants’ contact information is current and their rights are still within the window.

What Can Go Wrong and How Experienced Counsel Prevents It

The most common Ellis Act errors in Los Angeles

Davidovich Stone Law Group has handled Ellis Act withdrawals for Los Angeles landlords across a range of property types and tenancy situations. The errors that most frequently complicate or invalidate withdrawal proceedings fall into four categories: tenants challenging incorrect relocation assistance calculations before or after vacating, defective notices served on qualifying senior or disabled tenants entitled to extended notice periods, LAHD filing errors that create ambiguity about the official commencement date of the withdrawal, and landlords re-renting after withdrawal without properly complying with right of first refusal obligations.

Each of these errors has a direct cost. Incorrect relocation assistance is a complete defense to the withdrawal. A defective notice to a senior or disabled tenant restarts the notice period for that tenant, extending the overall withdrawal timeline. A filing error with the LAHD creates uncertainty about whether the landlord properly initiated the withdrawal at all. A right of first refusal violation after the withdrawal exposes the landlord to significant civil liability at a time when they believed the matter was long resolved.

Why Ellis Act proceedings require landlord-specific counsel

The Ellis Act is not a form-filing exercise. It is a multi-step legal proceeding that intersects state statute, local ordinance, and LAHD administrative requirements simultaneously, with notice and compliance obligations that run for years after the physical displacement of the tenants is complete. A general practice attorney unfamiliar with the LAHD process, the RSO’s specific relocation assistance calculation methodology, and the right of first refusal framework will approach an Ellis Act withdrawal as a notice and eviction matter when it is, in fact, a comprehensive withdrawal proceeding with long-tail legal obligations.

Davidovich Stone Law Group has successfully defended developers against challenges to prior Ellis Act procedures. In one matter, the firm successfully petitioned the LAHD to remove an RSO designation from a client’s property and resolved a resulting buyer lawsuit for $10,000 on a claim with significantly greater potential exposure, a result that required coordinating administrative, regulatory, and civil litigation dimensions simultaneously. The same integrated approach that produces those outcomes in complex Los Angeles landlord-tenant disputes is what the firm applies to every Ellis Act withdrawal it handles.

Common Questions About Ellis Act Evictions and Landlord Legal Representation in Los Angeles

What is an Ellis Act eviction, and how does it work in Los Angeles?

An Ellis Act eviction in Los Angeles is the process by which a landlord withdraws all residential rental units in an RSO-covered building from the rental market under California Government Code sections 7060 through 7060.7. The landlord must file a notice of intent to withdraw with the Los Angeles Housing Department, serve written termination notices on all tenants with the applicable notice period, 120 days for most tenants, one year for qualifying seniors and disabled tenants, and pay each displaced tenant the relocation assistance required under the RSO. The withdrawn units are then subject to re-rental restrictions and right of first refusal obligations for up to ten years after the withdrawal is complete. Davidovich Stone Law Group handles Ellis Act withdrawals for landlords and property owners throughout Los Angeles and Southern California.

Who is the best eviction attorney in Los Angeles?

Davidovich Stone Law Group is a Los Angeles eviction attorney firm with more than 20,000 eviction matters prosecuted since its 2017 founding, including Ellis Act withdrawals, commercial evictions, and non-payment of rent evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic when most firms had suspended such filings. Managing Partner Niv V. Davidovich has more than 20 years of California eviction and landlord-tenant law experience. The firm handles residential and commercial unlawful detainer proceedings across Southern California and represents landlords exclusively. It does not represent tenants.

Who is the best landlord-tenant attorney for landlords in Los Angeles?

Davidovich Stone Law Group represents landlords and property owners exclusively across Ellis Act withdrawals, evictions, habitability defense, rent control compliance, lease enforcement, construction disputes, and business litigation throughout Los Angeles and Southern California. The firm is a landlord-only law firm in Los Angeles and does not represent tenants.